Outdoor Ontario
Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: rickeckley on April 19, 2013, 12:48:38 PM
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The action was down near the ground today in the wild and woolly wet woods; flickers foraging, juncos jumping, thrashers and thrushes in the thickets, and several species of sparrows skulking, scavenging and singing. I've never seen greater numbers of flickers or white throated sparrows in one place at one time in my entire life.
Looking up from time to time had its rewards, too. Saw my first yellow warbler of the year and greater numbers of ruby crowns. Also a possible black-and-white warbler, but I couldn't make a positive i.d. and it is early for them, so hopefully, if I did indeed see one, others will find it. It was straight back from the parking lot 3/4 of the way to the road at the back side of the woods.
Some birds I enjoyed:
Woodcock
Sapsucker
Hairy
Flicker
Phoebe
Creeper
Winter Wren
R.C. Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Rump
Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White Throated Sparrow
Junco
Cardinal - common, perhaps, but the ones I saw in the gray, overcast light were so bright and beautiful that they were a highlight of my jaunt
Rusty Blackbird
Cowbird
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A great list for a crappy weather day! Also love the alliteration. :wink:
Sounds like the Warblers are well on their way - there were 5 species reported on ebird this morning up at the Humber Arboretum.
-kris
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It was a nice day for birds - and the weather - despite what the reports said - was lovely. It was overcast but warm with a constant threat of rain but never any real precipitation. Weather like that suits the stark and despairingly beautiful wet woods, especially during early spring migration - skulking around in the muck and brush for the likes of woodcocks and sparrows.
I saw that report about the Humber arboretum. It seems not far from my house, but I don't know it. Have you been there?
Rick
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No I've never been to the Arboretum - but I'm on my way there to explore it this morning! Hoping the wind will be a little better there than down by the lake. Bohemian Waxwings were also reported late yesterday.
-kris
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i went there at 3 (didn't see this post).
saw a thrasher, hermit thrush, pine warbler and 2 blue-winged teals in the wet woods. up to 3 species of swallows. i'll add a goldfinch and a chickadee to the initial list (boooooring!). the RCKs were incredibly active and very horny. some GCKs as well, but the rubies outnumbered them.
apparently the white-eyed vireo was also re-spotted.
the # of flickers can't be understated. i've never seen anything like it. 4 of them hanging out near the main road, hopping on the ground and jumping tree to tree. think i saw 6 in one tree near the middle of the woods. at 5 PM, the creepers decided to come out and were all over.
the yellow rumped warblers were getting really close.
a word of caution/warning for those who haven't been yet this year. it is living up to its name. water is over a foot high in some spots. footing is moderately unsafe and very uneven in spots. if you have bad balance or are prone to falling, please do not go there. if you don't have rubber boots, then you're nuts to go there. you will get soaked and you will be limited to what you can see.